


Welcome

by ohhello



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M, reunited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 21:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13221489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohhello/pseuds/ohhello
Summary: Twenty-seven year old Chikara comes back to Miyagi for a fresh start. As fresh of start as he can get in a city that houses his history and his decade long unrequited crush on Ryuu.





	Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> This was my zine entry for the Ennotana Zine, a free (!!) zine download. Please check it out!
> 
> https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0l4TEBHeCDeNjY1eUpCcHE3Rk0

Usually, coming back to Miyagi happens quickly - a weekend visit to his parents, a holiday here and there, maybe a wedding to attend.

But, now…

Chikara sighs, spearing the sidewalk with the end of his umbrella.

_“It looks like rain, Chikara. If you’re going to go out take an umbrella.”_

He turns back to look at the house. Apparently, a mom’s a mom even if you’re twenty-seven years old.

He’d told his parents he was taking a walk to clear his head, but honestly he doesn’t know where he wants to go. It takes five minutes before he realizes he’s walking his old route to Karasuno.

You’d think after almost ten years it wouldn’t feel so natural.

He shrugs to himself; he might as well press on. He’s got all the time in the world.

* * *

 

Sakanoshita is still there, nestled at the bottom of the hill that leads to the school, virtually unchanged except for the bright new vending machines outside. Everything else looks like time hasn’t touched the little shop.

Chikara oscillates briefly, wringing the fabric of his umbrella between his hands. Should he go in? He wouldn’t mind seeing Ukai-san if he was working. Last time he visited the store there had been a part-timer working who barely acknowledged Chikara’s presence. He’d left with a water bottle, a steamed bun, and an odd sense of being stripped of belonging.

_Okay, let’s do this._

Chikara walks in, greeted almost instantaneously by an enthusiastic, though inattentive sounding “Welcome!” from a familiar voice behind the counter.

It’s not Ukai-san.

Chikara stops, partly in surprise, partly fighting the urge to turn back around at the sight of the person perched on a stool behind the counter, apron-clad and hunched over a magazine. “Ta. Ta-naka?”

Ryuu looks up, eyes going wide in recognition. He drops the magazine, slapping both hands on the counter and leans forward, mouth agape like he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing. “Chi… Ennoshita!?”

Chikara manages to push out a weak sounding ‘hey’ in response. _Very eloquent of you, Chikara._

Ryuu is undeterred by his awkwardness. “You didn’t tell anyone you were coming back to Miyagi! Not that you’ve really kept in touch, but… all of the sudden? You’re here? Noya’s gonna be mad… thrilled, but mad.” Ryuu looks a little like he wants to say the same about himself.

The amount of time it takes Chikara’s brain to formulate any kind of response feels like decades.

“I. I’m sorry. It’s been a busy couple of… years.” Chikara tries to mentally calculate how long it has been since he’s really caught up with his old friends. Almost two years. “So… you’re working for Ukai-san now?”

“For and with.” Ryuu catches the confused expression that crosses Chikara’s face. “I work here part time, help out on the farm some, and I’ve been assistant coaching volleyball at Karasuno.”

“Coaching!? At Karasuno!?” Chikara splutters out, surprised.

“Yep! Coach-” The store phone rings and Ryuu throws it a glare, waiting a second before picking it up. “Sakanoshita Store.”

Chikara takes an unconscious step backward - of anyone he was expecting to see or have to talk to, Ryuu is the one person he was not prepared for.

In fact, he’d very much like to run out of the store.

There is a reason that he actively avoids coming home or catching up with with his old friends. and namely, that reason is Ryuu. Chikara was able to diligently ignore his lame crush on him for all three years of high school. He was able to keep on ignoring it during his time at university, and on the weekends he came home to visit and ended up at Noya’s apartment for drinks with Ryuu and occasionally Narita or Kino if they happened to be home at the same time. But Chikara couldn’t ignore it the year after graduating, when Ryuu surprised everyone by getting a boyfriend.

A _boyfriend._

That hurt much worse than Ryuu getting a girlfriend. Chikara had been prepared for a girlfriend, had expected it. He was not prepared for a boyfriend. Ryuu getting a boyfriend meant a lot of complicated things to Chikara. A lot of complicated things he didn’t want to deal with. So he didn’t.

He solved the problem of unrequited love by throwing himself into his work, which landed him an even better job, getting a boyfriend of his own, and actively avoiding his old friends. (Though Noya made sure that he was almost impossible to avoid.)

Chikara jerks out of his thoughts at the loud clack of the phone being put back on the hook. Ryuu is leaning over the counter, scribbling something down on a notepad and nodding to himself.

He needs to leave - now. “You’re working… I should go.”

Ryuu straightens as Chikara turns to leave. “Do you wanna get a drink?”

“What?” Chikara wonders if he needs to remind Ryuu that he’s currently on-shift.

“Do you want to go get a drink?” Ryuu starts to undo his apron ties and pulls it over his head. “Oba-chan is taking over for me in about five minutes. I’ve got time if you do.”

Chikara blinks slowly, trying to mentally run through the list of reasons why getting a drink with Ryuu wouldn’t be in his best interest. “A drink would be nice.”

 

* * *

 

“So… you’re basically becoming Ukai-san?” An amused smile pulls at the side of Chikara’s mouth as he digs into the otoshi that the izakaya waitress had brought to the table a moment before. “Besides the hair.”

Ryuu makes a humming noise and runs his hand over his shaved head. “ _And_ I haven’t started smoking.” He grins wide and winks. “Gotta be my own person in something.”

“Your lungs commend your individualism, I’m sure.” Chikara hopes the heat he can feel on his cheeks isn’t too obvious. “I can’t believe you’re actually coaching at Karasuno.”

“You gonna start calling me ‘Coach’ now?” Ryuu puffs his chest slightly, probably more proud of his new position than he wants to let on.

Chikara laughs, almost choking on his beer in the process. “Not on your life. That would go straight to your ego.”

“If anyone is in danger of having an ego at this table it would probably be you, city boy. A city boy with a fancy job.”

“Had. Had a fancy job.” Chikara knew that it was going to come up sooner or later.

Ryuu doesn’t respond to that, but his features soften as he looks at the table.

“Are you going to ask me if I quit?” The question doesn’t come out quite as light sounding as Chikara means it to.

“I know you aren’t a quitter, Ennoshita.” Ryuu states with finality. “Layoffs?”

Chikara nods, watching as the bubbles in his mug slowly rise to the surface.

“How long are you staying?” Ryuu asks and Chikara looks up, meeting his eyes.

“I don’t know.” Chikara breathes out, looking away from him. “I didn’t plan, I just came home.”

There had been more than just the job that spurred his decision.

“So.” Ryuu pauses like he isn’t sure he should say what he was about to say. “You lost your job and came back here to Miyagi. How does your boyfriend feel about that? You couldn’t have stayed with him?”

Chikara winces inwardly, guilty at knowing how much he’s been keeping from his friends. “We aren’t going out anymore. For a long time, actually.”

“Ah.”

Chikara feels desperate to change the subject, but instead of redirecting the conversation entirely he blurts out a question he doesn’t want the answer to. “What about you?”

“Me? Me, what?”

“How’s your… boyfriend?” _Shut up, Chikara!_

“Don’t got one. Not anymore, at least.” Ryuu downs the last of his beer in a big gulp. “Same as you, haven’t had one for a while.”

Chikara wants to feel shame at the elation that bursts in his chest at that admission, but he doesn’t.  


* * *

  

All of his previous worries about having a drink with Ryuu seem laughably trivial now. He can’t even remember why he was so scared that it would be horrible or awkward. Two hours at the izakaya and one small tussle over paying the bill later found him walking back towards home, happy and strangely worry-free and also not alone-

“Noya’s going to kill me if he finds out that we are out without him.” Chikara pulls a face at the thought of the guilt-trip laden texts he’ll get if Noya gets wind of this impromptu get-together. “He already guilts me about not staying in contact better.”

Ryuu slings an arm around Chikara’s neck, pulling him in and whipping his phone out. “Say cheese.”

Chikara barely has time to register that a photo is being taken of him; the only thing his brain fixates on is the arm around him, strong and warm.

“I’m sending this to Noya right now.” Ryuu grins, pleased with himself.

“He’s going to kill us _both_.”

Chikara doesn’t want to reach his house. He wants to find an excuse to stay out longer, even a stop by the neighborhood playground is seeming like viable option.

“I feel like a kid, going home to my parents,” Chikara huffs with a smile, trying to cover the disappointment in his voice.

“Eh, parents always make you feel like that,” Ryuu says, supportively.

“You didn’t have to walk me home, you know.”

“I was afraid you’d get lost.” Ryuu stuffs his hands further into his pockets and smiles at the ground before looking back up at Chikara. “It’s been a while, you know.” Chikara doesn’t miss the small accusation in his voice.

_Deflect._ “You say that like I’m old and have memory issues.”

“Maybe I just wanted to.” He is looking right at Chikara with the kind of earnest expression that always throws Chikara off-guard. _You’re not supposed to be able to look like that._

Chikara snaps his mouth closed. He was ready for another snarky aside, but not that. Not sincerity Chikara knew he didn’t deserve. “I. Thank… you.”

“Any time.” Ryuu says it like it’s an offer that Chikara needs to accept. “Now that I know you’re back for a while, don’t think you can avoid hanging out again.”

“I wasn’t avoi-” He flushes, pausing before he goes through with the obvious lie. “I won’t. Why would I avoid hanging out with the coolest coach in Miyagi?”

“Don’t let Ukai-san hear you say that. Then we’d have both Noya and him mad at us.” Ryuu flashes a lopsided grin at him and Chikara wishes he could take a picture.

“Second coolest.” Chikara revises, tapping Ryuu’s arm with his umbrella.

“I’ll take it.” Ryuu leans forward as he walks, grin turning sly. “I still think you should call me ‘Coach’.”

“Ryuu, I’m not calling you ‘Coach’.” Chikara laughs, trying to sound exasperated.

There’s a small smile pulling at Ryuu’s mouth as he stops walking, turning towards Chikara. “I’ll take ‘Ryuu’, then.”

Chikara balks. He hadn’t even realized that he’d fallen back into calling him Ryuu. It’s almost shocking how quickly his heart starts beating, adrenaline rushing through him.

“Goodnight, Chikara.”

Chikara is confused at Ryuu’s abrupt good-bye until he realizes they’ve been standing in front of his house. It’s too soon.

“Goodnight. Ryuu.” Chikara feels like there’s so much more to say, more than was able to be said in the two hours they’ve already spent together, but Ryuu is already walking away. Chikara calls after him, “I promise I won’t avoid you.”

Ryuu turns and waves, calling out, “You know my number!” before stuffing his hands back in his pockets and continuing to walk down the road.

Chikara pauses, a hand over the gate latch, watching Ryuu until he turns the corner at the end of the road. He wishes his heart would slow down and that the effervescent tightness in his chest would ease. _You’re not fifteen, Chikara._

He smiles dumbly at the front gate. This really shouldn’t feel like anything special - if you tally up all the time that he and Ryuu have spent hanging out or walking home over the years, you’d get a number far larger than Chikara could possibly count right now.

But for some reason, tonight felt new. Like it was a first.

Hopefully, the first of many.


End file.
